Friday, November 7, 2014

Not winter yet... in the NW

Next week will apparently be a very cold time in the midwest, but not so much here in Washington. Our climate is pretty mild most of the year, tempered by the ocean water. We get chilly, but never too cold, or too hot. Our daytime temperatures are in the 50s right now, with evening temps dipping to the low 30s, but even temps of 32 degrees aren't very cold. Nothing like the midwest has as its usual or what they're about to get, apparently.

Our temperature range is one reason why I'm concentrating on forage production, and on animals that use that forage. We've got excellent conditions for growing for at least 9 months of the year, and in a warm winter, like now, for longer than that.

The challenge with farming is to figure out something that works for your ground. As much as I'd love to grow watermelons (and I have grown them here in western washington!) it takes a fair bit of effort, and it's easier, and there are fewer inputs (farmer speak for what you need to buy for your crops to thrive) with things that are suited for this climate, and these soils.

My garden list runs heavily towards brassicas and root crops, squash, potatoes. They all grow well here and don't require much to do really well.

My forage list is grass and alfalfa this year, with a bit of corn. I wanted to make sure that I could raise a complete ration for a dairy cow on property, and so far so good. I want my cows to be on a 1 mile diet. that's the goal there.